J.K. Rowling is publishing a new children’s book online. The “Harry Potter” author released the first two chapters of “The Ickabog” on a new website (theickabog.com) Tuesday, explaining that the story will be released for free over the next seven weeks. Posted every weekday, each installment will be “a chapter (or two or three).”

As parts of Washington enter phases of reopening, tourism leaders say families have started to ask about summer travel. If all goes well, more trips could begin by July or August. When travel does return, it will look different for at least a while.

New apps and online portals have designs to help you squeeze in family fun breaks throughout the day when we’re all home together more during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here are a few virtual activities designed for the entire family.

Uh-oh – where has the time gone? It is almost Mother’s Day. Do you have a gift ready for mom or another special woman or caregiver in your life? Getting the perfect Mother’s Day gift may be a bit more challenging this year since we are not in school and not able to get to the store as much. Here are some ideas to help you figure out a creative and meaningful gift for this Mother’s Day.

Under COVID-19 restrictions, Joya Child & Family Development switched quickly to telehealth for families using its therapies to support young children with medical complexities and special needs. Formerly the Spokane Guilds’ School, Joya helps babies and toddlers reach milestones.

Get outside today with these fun outdoor science experiments. Insect Hotel: Attract bugs that can be beneficial for pollination and keeping away pests. Use a wood or cardboard box. Use smaller pieces of wood or smaller cardboard boxes to create the “rooms” for the bugs. Fill each room with a bug-friendly nesting material. Solitary bees are attracted to wood with deep holes drilled into them, or bundles of wood with holes for them to nestle into. Butterflies are attracted to bundles of leaves. Use burlap, bark, pebbles, dried flowers or newspaper scraps. Glue the materials in place. Place the hotel outside, somewhere away from entrances to your home. Keep a log of what kinds of bugs come to visit your hotel.

These days, kids watch parents slide a card for groceries or other goods. Do families still talk about how to save, spend and budget with their money? Teaching good money habits should start when kids are young, say financial experts.

The world is full of wonder, but that’s easy to forget when you’re stuck inside a house. Here are seven neat animal facts to remind you of all the cool, yucky, cute, wild and funky creatures that call our world home.

The Spokesman-Review received more than 230 entries in this year’s spring coloring contest, including one from a Florida kid, some from Western Washington and a few from artists a few decades past the upper age limit.

Celebrities everywhere have begun reading books on various social media platforms to kids who are stuck at home because of quarantine, but it’s hard to compete with probably the most famous reader of children’s books there is, LeVar Burton.

Will marriages survive sheltering in place for likely a while yet? Our differences can be difficult to ignore in confined quarters, and then throw in working at home or job losses, kids and COVID-19 anxieties. Experts offer tips to communicate and unite in these challenging times.